Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Is it going to snow some more?

OK, it snowed today in eastern Iowa . A LOT. Two days ago, I shoveled tire paths to the end of the lane. This morning, I woke up to about 8" of snow the length of my driveway. So at 530 this morning, I started shoveling. And shoveled. A LOT. I shoveled the entire concrete pad in front of the garage. Then I shoveled all the way to the end of my driveway, out to the scrawney bushes that mark the beginning of the circle. The snow sat on top of about 1/2? of slush. So each shovel full weighed about 15 pounds. At first. I effectively 'shaved' the slush down to the ice while I shoveled this morning. I had to stop every few throws to knock the ice pack out of the shovel bucket. I got so hot I pulled the hood off my jacket to let the steam escape. The whole time it continued to snow. Hard.

At 645, I came back into the house.

So with the driveway shoveled clean, the lane to the road still had not been plowed. I told Jill it would be a while before the trucks got here to plow the lane. So I went and showered and dressed for work. I was sitting down to some cereal, since I hadn't had breakfast yet, and I get a Text from my boss. A) it is snowing. B) she was at work (implying it couldn't be that bad out). Good for her.

Jill and I got Kat in the car and headed for Daycare. The VW is so low to the ground, we plowed the lane down to 8". Then we discovered the county road had not been plowed. In fact, the four lane had not been plowed. We couldn't tell where the shoulder started or where lanes were. And we were the only people on the road. Once we got to Springville (4 miles, 25 minutes) we turned around and went home.

All the while, it still snowed. Hard. At times, hard enough to interrupt my internet connection to the house. Hard enough to declare a snow emergence at work to allow people to go home if they didn't feel safe. I don't know when they last did that during the day.

Around 330 it quit snowing and I had another 8" of snow on my driveway. And I got a TM from a friend. "just shoveled -- dying now" And they have an itty bitty driveway. Must be outta shape from sitting in meetings all day.

So I dressed to go back out and shovel the driveway.... Again.

But just as I got ready to start, a neighbor up the road stopped with his skid steer. "Hi there! Lotta snow, eh? $35.00, me and the machine can take care of this for you."

THANK YOU LORD!

He cleared the concrete pad, he cleared the entire drive, he dragged the truck out from where it was stuck, then cleared that area so I could park it there. It took 30 minutes. Worth every penny. If he hadn't stopped by, I don't think I would have gotten it done before nightfall. As it was, we finished everything off in time to take some pics of the sun going down over the hill, thru the trees.

About Me

- Still going crazy. Not a new parent, Wife and I have both graduated. Working full time with various projects that involves dragging adults (kicking and screaming) to face unpleasant facts. Should be good practice for parenting.
I find it helps to laugh at the world and the situations we put ourselves in. We all take ourselves so seriously. When really, life is a comedy.